Why
do so many of us feel so alone?
Getting Started
How many friends do you have on Facebook or Instagram?
How many people would you consider to be close friends?
How often do we see our closer friends?
Have you ever felt more closely connected with some people electronically than the people you are actually physically with?
Do you often feel disconnected?
Why do you think loneliness is such a huge issue in our community?
Two suggestions that relate to disconnection
1. The demise of good conversation
Do we converse more or less these days?
Are we losing the art of good conversation or not?
2. The death of confession
When you think of confession, what comes to mind?
Why do we so often make excuses rather than confess?
Why is true confession a key step to closer connection – with God, with our families, with our friends?
A God of Relationship
Read Psalm 139
Reflect on all of the ways the Psalmist and the Lord interact.
Is there anywhere we can go where the Lord isn’t available and present to us?
How does God’s commitment to us overcome our sense of disconnection?
Reconnecting
As we go through our lives each of us has things that we need to work out how to respond to, from our past, to our present and our furture. We can pursue a number of approaches
making excuses
or
Identifying reasons
or
Finding explanations
or
Making justifications
What do you think is the likely outcome of each of these options?
Will they help us to accept responsibility and to change and grow?
Fostering Reconnection
1. Develop the art of good conversation
What do you think are the keys to good conversations?
How can we be less self-absorbed and more focussed on others?
How do we respond to people who don’t converse but just keep on talking?
How can we help to draw people out?
How can we help our children to be good conversationalists?
2. Disconnect to Get Connected
Are there some practical steps you can take to digitally disconnect in order to better connect?
Some suggestions could include
* Shut everything off at meals (except maybe some music!)
• Don’t answer calls when you’re with someone
• Put your phone in your pocket or handbag when you’re with someone
• Don’t watch, play together e.g. Board games
• Get out and about
• Have people around to your house
• Share in holidays together
• Activate the do not disturb mode on the device
• Keep the electronics out of the bedroom when you trying to sleep
3. Pray for the Lord to guide you to good friends
Chat and pray about finding good friends.
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